


now im stricken, now im stung (its done already)

by insertcleveracejoke



Series: Hadestown AU -- Let the Fates create a happy ending [21]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Also read the final notes theres something important, Hadestown AU, Logan can turn into a shadow monster apparently, M/M, No cheating, also claws are pressed against a neck but no one gets hurt, and theyre fine, he corners Roman, just remember theres gonna be an eventual happy ending, logan is not in his best shape tbh, some uh intense scenes, thats as new to me as it is to you, theres some threats but theyre not really serious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 17:04:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17605370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertcleveracejoke/pseuds/insertcleveracejoke
Summary: The Underworld was silent.It had never been especially loud. But the dead tended to whisper, and the spirits liked to laugh, and therefore it was almost never completely quiet. The ghosts had stopped murmuring and had hidden in their houses and mines- the spirits recoiled and went wherever else was safe. It felt like a forest before a thunderstorm. There were only two live souls in the Underworld, and they shivered in each other's arms.Something older and stronger than any human soul, dead or alive, was furious. It did not care if others noticed that.





	now im stricken, now im stung (its done already)

The Underworld was silent.

It had never been especially loud. But the dead tended to whisper, and the spirits liked to laugh, and therefore it was almost never completely quiet. The ghosts had stopped murmuring and had hidden in their houses and mines- the spirits recoiled and went wherever else was safe. It felt like a forest before a thunderstorm. There were only two live souls in the Underworld, and they shivered in each other's arms.

Something older and stronger than any human soul, dead or alive, was furious. It did not care if others noticed that.

Logan had never been deliberately cruel even before he met Patton. If he were someone else, it could be said that he didn't have it in him. But Logan was a god. Patton hadn't hesitated to let all the other gods who weren't under his protection starve when he was only angry because of Deceit, and Patton was not a death god. Logan usually kept that side of himself safely buried.

Not right now.

Roman looked up when he felt his arms close around nothing. Logan eyes were molten magma, the only things visible through the shadows clinging to his body. Something small and primal inside of Roman wanted to cower and hide- something stronger and furious wanted to roar.

"Where's Virgil?!", he demanded. "What did you do to him?"

Roman didn't need to see Logan's face to know that he was sneering. The god took a step forward and he stepped back, all alarms in his brain going off at the same time. He felt cold and so, so alone, the presence of Logan resembling the feeling of looking at the stars at night and remembering your mortality, with the difference that this night was glaring right back at him. It would barely take a thought for Roman to be dead. He wanted, suddenly and desperately, to sing. 

(Roman remembered the swans back at home. If he was going to die, he wanted to go singing, too.)

"Oh, mortal man, are you scared?", Logan mocked. His voice sounded like magma would if it had a voice. He was so close now, having backed Roman into the wall. Something brushed the singer's neck- claws made of darkness. He shuddered. "You are. It's so easy. You cannot fight a god. What could you do? I could keep you here forever, you know. Would you accept it? Would you trade your soul for Virgil's freedom? Or are you too much of a coward?"

Roman raised his chin in what was meant to be an act of defiance and gulped as that meant the claws brushed against his jugular. Logan was probably smirking under the shadows he wore as a mantle.

(And yet- and yet- and yet-)

(Roman had loved the forest. All of it. Morning dew and clear rivers and the bright green of its leaves under the sun and the starry night and the way it fell mostly silent during the night, the way that familiar fear clawed at his back and whispered with a silky voice- what if, what if, what if?)

"I would do the necessary", he said, and was not surprised that it was true.

Roman tried not to think of an eternity here. (What was worse, the sheer fear or the way he-)

(He was intrigued.)

"So handsome. So naive. I've probably met your ancestors- I was here before the oldest human was even a thought in a god's mind. Are you afraid of me, mortal man? You should be. Even if I let you go, you'll be back to my claws very soon. Oh, what are fifty, sixty years when one is not keeping track of the seasons? You'll go. I'll let you go. Have your happiness- you'd better make Virgil happy, keep him safe, keep him warm- you're stealing all that I have, destroying every single hope and dream, and the worst part is that you didn't even mean to. Oh, I'll let you go, mortal man. I am patient. You'll come back. And then…"

Logan grinned. Roman knew it because some of the shadows receded, teeth stark white and sharp against the rest of the purposeful darkness. It was something out of a terror story. The human's heart beat wildly in his chest and he distantly wondered if the shadows would feel soft under his fingertips.

"And then?", his voice was hoarse.

"Aren't you excited to know?", Logan's grin grew impossibly wider. "You like this, don't you? You like this shape, how I left you no escape route. Oh my. Does Virgil know?"

The god leaned over to whisper in Roman's ear, "would he like to?"

The singer shivered. "You stay away from him! Where is Virgil? Did you hurt him?"

Logan stepped back, surprised. The shadows left him and he shivered too, hands going up to rub his arms, feeling naked and lonely without the protection of the darkness. It was so cold without the heat of his fury. How did this human keep disarming him? How could he- how did he dare think Logan would hurt Virgil- but, then again, he did make himself deliberately threatening. Maybe it wasn't Roman's fault. Maybe it wasn't even Patton's. Maybe…

(Maybe it was Logan's. He who could not stop hurting people just by existing, by ruling, by loving, by trying to help.)

(Maybe everyone would be safer when he ended completely alone.)

"Of course I didn't", he said softly. "Virgil is safe. I just sent him to the garden."

Roman sagged against the wall. He hadn't realized how tense the fear had made him until it went away. "Why?"

"I am… I was angry. I wanted to talk to you. I think… I think I still am. But worry not. I'm going to let you go with Virgil."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll even give you some piece of advice. You know, the Greek used to say there's nothing free- though I'm not asking for anything else, would you listen to a god's rambling?"

"I have until now."

Logan couldn't help but to laugh. "Fair enough, mortal man."

(Roman tried not to blush. Logan's laugh was…)

"I married Patton when I was but a young god. I was in love, and infatuated, and I didn't think he would say yes when I proposed. And in the start, it was beautiful. We were happy. I was enough, and he was enough, and I was the happiest I had ever been. But he missed the surface. He missed sunlight, and the trees, and even you, humans. And I let him go. I didn't think he'd come back. He did. He's been surprising me for thousands of years. But.."

Logan tilted his head and gave Roman a smile that could only be born from a god's lifetime of bitterness. "He said this turned into a tragedy the moment he met me. So I let him go, too. Just like I'm letting you go. And I want you to think…"

"What?"

"You know, I think Virgil quite enjoyed the Underworld."

Roman froze. "What", he repeated.

Logan smiled sadly. (He doesn't mean this to be a revenge- this isn't a god being petty. This is a god trying to be helpful in the only way he can. A warning.)

"A week here, every year. That's the price he's paying so he'll never, ever, feel hungry again. And most would say it's a fair price. But he'll leave you. You'll think a week isn't long. It'll be, though, because you do not trust me, and you'll be scared for him at first. And the years will pass, and every year he'll stay here longer. I'll never touch him. I won't need to. He doesn't love this because of my presence. And then one day, he won't come back."

"I don't think I like you. I'm alone now because of your existence. But I understand what you're going through, and since Patton and Virgil seem to like you so much, I'll let you go with only two conditions."

"Which would be?", Roman asked.

"Sing a last song for me. And, when you're going back to the surface, do not- and I repeat- do not look back."

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been thinking now that we're near the end and I don't know if I mentioned this before, but
> 
> How would you guys like a sequel? It might have a few bonus scenes, but it'll mostly show their life after the happy ending and how they adjust. Probably more fluff than angst. It'd be more slice of life than anything. Would you rather it be in the same format as this- oneshots in a series- or one fanfic with many chapters? Answer in the comments, please.


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